Chris Hein - OCTA

Manual
The heart of OCTA is the 8 channel mixer,
which can hold up to 8 sound sources,
each with its individual settings.

The interface is divided into 6 pages:

- The Mixer page provides a general overview with a big picture of the sound sources loaded.
- The Main page lets you adjust several global parameters, and a lot of settings for the 8 channels.
- The Effects page holds up to 20 different effects simultaneously.
- The Preset page offers the menu of Instruments presets.
- The Sequencer page lets you design the sequencer presets.
- The Settings page holds several global settings and the CC MIDI Controller assignment.
 Mixer Page
The heart of OCTA is the 8 channel mixer, which can hold up to 8 sound sources,
each with its individual settings.
It‘s like having 8 completely independent instruments in one.

The mixer page provides a general overview with a big picture of the sound sources loaded.
Click on an Instrument name or on the small instrument picture to load individual Sound Sources to each
channel.

For each channel you have:

Volume, Panorama and Solo.
Mute a channel, by simply unloading it,
which also can save a lot of memory.
Drum / Percussion Instruments:

On Drum & Percussion instruments, klick "Show keys“ in the lower right of the interface
to see the keyboard mapping all available samples
 Main Page
Here you can adjust some global parameters and a lot of individual settings for all channels.

"Scale“ is a global parameter for all channels

and lets you limit the notes to a specific major
or minor scale.
"Key“ sets the root key for this scale.

"Chord“ adds an interval or a

Hint: Hold the shift key while dragging the
chord, based on the notes you
fader for more precise adjustments.
play.
Command click resets each function to zero.

"Transpose“ up to 36 semitones
up or down.
"Tune“ fine tunes the sound.

"Layer“ leaves the channel open for regular playing

"Type“ lets you design the way a
"Blend In“ blends in the sound by using CC11
channels sound will be triggered/
"Blend Out“ reduces the volume when increasing
heard.
CC11.
The CC number for the blending control can be
"Output“ assigns the channel to
changed in the Settings page.
a specific audio output,
With the combination of "Blend in“ and "Blend out“,
depending on your audio
you can morph between the sounds of two or more
interface.
channels.
"Pad Center“ and "Pad A-H“ route the channel to the
OCTA-Pad,
"Release“ plays the sound when releasing a key.
 The "OCTA-Pad“ lets you morph between all channels
via the mouse on the XY-axis or with two MIDI controllers.

By default that’s CC2 and CC3, but you can change the MIDI
CCs on the settings page.

The Movement of the XY-PAD can be animated in the

sequencer or on the settings page.

When using the OCTA-pad channel level indication is displayed

in blue in the mixer

"Keyrange“ defines the playable

keyboard range of each channel with
smooth crossfading between them.
Select the upper and lower key limit with
the black line and the fade in/out range
with the orange line.
This way you can create intriguing
playable blends between instruments
across the keyboard.

"Envelope“ provides a classic envelope.

"Curve“ - sets the velocity curve for the
Attack time
"Attack“ - sets the time it takes for the
sound to reach full volume.
"Decay“ - the time it takes to fade to its
sustained volume.
"Sustain“- how loud the sound is after
reaching secondary volume.
"Release“- how long it takes to
completely fade out.
"Velocity“ Tailor the velocity response to
suit your playing style or perhaps make
quick adjustments to how a sound
responds to pre recoded midi notes.
Set minimum/maximum velocity values
and choose from 5 curve modes:
Linear, Shelf, Compressed/Expanded,
Fixed or Range.
An extremely simple yet powerful section
well worth experimenting with!
Setting different velocity curves to
different channels can produce
interesting sonic changes, depending on
the keyboard velocity you play.
You can even switch between channels
by assigning a specific velocity range to
each of them.
E.g. assign a channel to play loud on
lower velocities, and another channel to
play loud on higher velocities.

* A personal word on velocity here:

Some keyboard players I see playing the
Instruments in CH-OCTA play with high
energy on loud velocities.
Keep in mind, that many of the
instruments have up to 24 dynamic
layers.
The jewels of OCTA are often found in
the very low velocities.

Some MIDI keyboards struggle to reach

the lowest velocities.
With this in mind raise the volume or use
a compressor to try out the lowe
dynamics.

"Keyswitches “ are a nifty

feature on the Main page
to activate specific chan-
nels on the fly. Activate key
switches, and assign any
channel to any keyswitch.
Up to 8 key switches can be
programmed each indivi-
dually positionable on the
keyboard. Keyswitches are
displayed in Red on the
Kontakt Keyboard.

The orange key is the "Repetition Key“ which triggers the last note or
chord you have played. Great for fast repetitions of percussive instru-
ment. Easily play a realistic tremolo e.g. on a Marimba.
You can assign the position of the repetition key on the settings page
 Effects Page
Up to 21 Effects can be assign simultaneously to any instrument channel

The Effects page provides 3 ways to assign an effect to a channel:

- 6 Channel Effects plus an individual filter for each channel

- 6 Send Effects with an intensity fader for each channel

- 6 Insert Effects, which work as Master Effects for the whole instrument.

You can choose from three different views:

View A displays View B displays View C displays

the Mixer and the Channel Effects the Mixer and the Send Effects the Channel Effects and Send Effects
 Filter has its own dedicated
page.
Each channel can have its
own filter settings.
Cut Off and Resonance
can be animated with the
sequencer.

Vibrato controls are also on

the Effects page.
Intensity and Speed are
controllable via MIDI CC.
The intensity can control
volume, Pitch and an
Equalizer.
Vibrato can be turned on or
off for each channel
separately.

Channel Effects Send Effects Insert Effects

Chose from a large variety of
high quality, on board effects.
And assign up to 6 completely
independent effects for each
channel.
present the most common effects. up to 8 Insert Effects can be assigned
The send level can also be animated as master effects applied to all
on the sequencer page. channels of the instrument.
 Presets Page
OCTA offers 2 kinds of presets:
- Instrument presets
- Channel Presets

Instrument - Presets

Instrument presets contain

whole combinations of chan-
nels along with all their Ef-
fects, Sequencers and other
settings.

The Sound sources are

tagged and organized in
various Categories.

Double Click on a preset name

to load it.

To save a Channel Preset,

select an empty preset slot,
click "save“, enter a name and
description and click "Apply“

You can also import Instru-

ment Presets from third party
preset libraries
Loading Instrument Presets via Snapshots

Open the drop-down menu Click the camera icon to switch the
and select any of the Snapshots. Instrument Header to the Snapshot View.

Click the little arrows to quickly load the

previous or the next Snapshot

Channel - Presets

Channel Presets let you load

an individual sound source for
each channel separately.

Click on a channels name, to

open the Channel Presets
browser.

<- Load a Sound Source only

to keep all settings
<- Load a clean Sound Source
<- Load a processed Source

To load a clean version of the sound source, load the "Default Setting“
There are several presets for each sound source available with pre-programmed Effects, Envelope,
filter and other settings.
To load a new sound without changing a channels settings load with "Source only“
The Sound sources are tagged and organized in various Categories.
To save a Channel Preset, select an empty preset slot, click "save“, enter a name and description and
click "Apply“
List of Instruments:

Real Instruments: Synths:

Vibraphone Soft My Tube Pad 1 Space Traveler
Vibraphone Medium Pizzicato Ensemble Pad 2 Singing Heaven
Vibraphone Hard Pizzicato Solo Pad 3 Analog String
Vibraphone Dynamic Harp Pad 4 Breathing Warm
Vibraphone Mute Soft Harp Flageolet Pad 5 Spakling Chimes
Vibraphone Mute Medium Harp Inch Harmonics Pad 6 Evolving Strings
Vibraphone Mute Hard MonoChord Finger Pad 7 Digital Organ
Marimba Soft MonoChord Pick Center Pad 8 Cold Breeze
Marimba Medium MonoChord Pick Bridge Pad 9 Big & Wide
Marimba Hard MonoChord Mallets Pluck 1 Nice and simple
Marimba Dynamic Piano Pluck 2 Funky Attack
African Marimba Toy Piano Pluck 3 Synth Pizzicato
Xylophone Soft E-Piano 1 Pluck 4 Analog Lead
Xylophone Hard E-Piano 2 Pluck 5 Guitar Like
Xylophone Dynamic E-Piano 3 Pad Pluck 6 Clean Bell Lead
Glockenspiel E-Piano 4 Pluck 7 Digital Wave
Glockenspiel Mute String Ensemble Pluck 8 Waterharp
Kalimba Finger Soft E-Bass Pluck 9 Earth Tone
Kalimba Nail Hard Fretless Bass Bel Coloured Bell
Sansula Slit Drum 1 Synth Bass 1
Bass Kalimba Slit Drum 2 Synth Bass 2
Guitarette Chimes Synth Bass 3
Hang Finger Hang Mallets Soft Key Thin Metal Keys
Hang Thumb Hang Mallets Hard Key Rich Glass Keys
Hang Stick Hang Metal Key Windy KeyPad
Hang Brushes Guitar Acoustic Key Guitar Magic
Tongue Drum Soft Ovation Stereo Pad Massive Pad 10
Tongue Drum Hard Ovation Pick Center Synth Lead 0Z
Tongue Drum Wood Ovation Pick Bridge Key Bambule
Wine Glass Ovation Mute Center Bel SpaceBells
Boomwhackers Ovation Mute Bridge Pluck Pluck Shape
Ambient Vibes

Drums/Percussion
Hang Percussion
Drum Kit
Perc. Wood
Perc. Metal
Perc. Mix
 Sequencer Page
The heart of Chris Hein - OCTA is its powerful Sequencer.
8 independent sequencer channels provide endless possibilities to create stunning movements.

Select the sequence page in the Top menu and activate the sequencer by
clicking the green light.

Clicking the green light at the bottom of each channel, activates or de-activates the
sequencer for each channel individually.
This way you can play some channels and have other channels playing the programmed
sequence on top.
On the top left, we have some global controls for the sequence.

"Chord Time“ sets the time in milliseconds, to recognise the incoming notes
as a chord.
It‘s hard to play all notes of a chord exactly at the same time,
that’s why the sequencer waits 20 milliseconds for incoming notes to recog-
nise them as a chord.
20ms is usually enough time for chord recognition but you may need to
adjust this.

"Start“ and "End“ sets the time when the sequence begins and stops.
- Instant plays the sequence immediately when a note is pressed.
- Beat, 1/2 bar or bar starts or ends the sequence on the next beat or bar.
With these settings you are always in time with DAW tempo and the sequen-
cer will always play to the end of the beat or bar. However you can prolong
sequencer playback with a sustain pedal!

"Swing“ lets you shuffle the groove up to 50%

"Dynamic“ offers three modes:

"Fixed“, plays the velocities exactly as programmed in the sequencer.
"Velocity“ plays the dynamics depending on the keyboard velocity, relative to
the programmed dynamic.
"X-Fade“ controls the dynamic via CC1, the modwheel.

On the right side, we also have some global controls for the sequence.
"Variations“
Each sequence can have up to 12 variations.
You can select the variations from the drop down menu at the right side of
the interface.
Or you simply press the variation keys, displayed in green on the keyboard.

"Var. Keys“ sets the position of the variation keys.

Variation keys work like key switches to select a specific variation,
but you can even change the variation while a sequence is playing
and the variation changes instantly.
You can copy and paste variations from one to the other.

On the right hand sight of the interface are also some global controls for each se-
quencer channel.
"1/16“ You can change the Note division from 16th notes to triplets.
"64“ A Sequence can have up to 64 steps. Set the amount of steps from one to 64.
"Speed“ The Sequence can be played at half time, normal or double time.
Select double time for example to enable 32th notes.
"Copy Paste Init “ You can copy and paste all channel settings from one
channel to any other.
Or clear the whole channel by clicking "init“.
"Page“ Each page contains 16 steps. You can have up to 4 pages of steps.
Select the page you want to edit.
Click again to loop the page you are working on, so you can focus on just this page
Don’t forget to turn off loop, when you are ready.
Copy, paste and initialize single pages.
Now, to the actual sequence:

Each channel has its own sequence.

Select a channel to edit its sequence.
The orange fields in the top bar show the active steps.
Click on a field to activate a step. Click again to set the set to "tie“. The field turns blue.
Tie glues the steps together and extends the length of the active step, for longer notes.
The little plus on the left side activates all steps, the x deletes all steps.
In other functions, the plus or minus increases or decrease the value of all steps,
the x sets all values to zero.

"Velocity“ here you set the keyboard velocity for each step.
"Volume“ lets you change the volume, independently from the volume fader in the mixer.
"Panorama“ spreads the steps in the stereo field.
"Transpose“ works in a range of 36 semitones up and down, that’s a range of 6 octaves
"Tune“ changes the tuning. Use shift click on all functions for fine editing.
"Length“ lets you change the duration of each step.
Usually you will use the bar graph to draw the values with the mouse,
but you can also type in a certain value by double clicking in the corresponding field.
"Notes“ Here you decide which notes of a chord you want to hear.
This section is complex but is indeed the reason why I named it "Sequencer“ rather than
arpeggiator!
I designed the Sequencer to encourage the adventurous musical spirit whereby you can play in
any chords or single notes and it will follow your playing without any need to think about scales,
major or minor.
It‘s a great tool for arriving at pleasing harmonies and surprising sonic textures!

"Last Note“ simply plays the last note you pressed.

"Up“ "Down“ "Up/Down“ acts like a traditional arpeggiator playing the single notes of a chord you
play from low to high or from high to low. If you play a single note, this note will be repeated.
"Chord“ plays exactly the chord you have played.
"Inversion1“ "Inversion2“ plays the first or second harmonic inversion of the chord or note you
play.
Lets say you play C2-E2-G2 the first inversion will shift the lowest note one octave higher,
so that you hear E2-G2-C3 the second inversion would be G2-C3-E3
The inversions are a fantastic feature, because they work not only for chords, but for all other
playing methods.
"Interval“ plays a straight interval from the lowest note you play.
Both intervals A and B play together and will be added to the note you play.
This is the only playing method, which may result in disharmony with the chords you play. But
maybe you want that!

"highest note“ "1st note“ "2nd note“ "3rd note“ "4st note“ act like guitar strings.
They play the single notes of the chord you play.
Multiple notes can be selected and added together.
Keep in mind, if you assign a step to a second note,
but play only one note, no sound will be audible on this step.
"Filter“ lets you animate the filter by drawing a line for CutOff and resonance of the filter,
if the filter is activated in the Effects page.
You can switch to the Effects page with the button "Filterpage“
to make your adjustments there, and you can switch back to the Sequencer
with the corresponding button on the Effects page.
You can choose a filter curve from sine, square and triangle.
Adjust the amplitude of the curve and change the frequency of the filter curve.
And of course you can draw the curve for CutOff and resonance manually.

"Pad“ lets you design the animation of the OCTA-Pad.

You can draw the Pad movements manually with the X and Y controller,
or you can record the PAD automation by clicking the record button,
play a note and move the cursor in the XY-Pad with your mouse.
The length of the recording depends on the amount of pages you have assigned on the right side.
The XY-Pad can also be automated independent from the Sequencer on the Settings Page.

"Send FX“ lets you automate the Effects, selected in the Effects page as send effects.
Activate a send effect to prepare it for automation, and draw the send level, (intensity) of the effect.
A great function, if for example you want a reverb only on the snare sound of a groove,
or a delay only on certain notes of a sequence, the possibilities are endless.
"Drum Groups“ are a little bit different, because, of course ,they don’t follow the chords you play.
In the sequence page, clicking on "key 1“opens up the menu of drum articulations available.
Click on a name to assign a drum articulation to a step.
Click and move the mouse to hear and adjust the actual velocity
Click "No Sound“ to clear a step
You can assign up to 4 drum layers together on a single channel.
Click "Edit Keys“ to select a drum sample by playing notes on your keyboard.
Close the window by click "Close“ or press the actual step again.
 Settings Page
The Settings Page holds various global parameters, the MIDI CC assignments
and the X-Y Pad Automation.

Each channel can have its individual MIDI CC for Volume, Pan, Filter Cut Off and Resonance
The MIDI CCs let you automate all these functions in your DAW.
If you have a hardware MIDI controller with 8 faders, you can handle these functions like on a
hardware mixer.
The OCTA-Pad can be automated with the sequencer or here on the settings page,
if you want to use the OCTA-Pad without any sequence running.

First, make sure, on the Main Page, all or at least a few channels are assigned to the OCTA-Pad.

Now you can automate the PAD movement:

- using the mouse,
- with two MIDI CCs from an external hardware controller,
- by drawing the CCs in the editor in your DAW.

But you can also record the Pad Movement within the
instrument. Activate "Pad Automation“, click record,
press a note and move the cursor in the XY-Pad.
The recording stops, when the selected length
of the sequence is over.

Of course you and edit and fine tune the

XY-Pad movement later.
The MIDI mode changes the general behaviour of the Instrument.
When set to Instrument, all channels respond to the same MIDI Channels
assigned for the Instrument.
When set to "Channel“ channel 1-8 respond to MIDI channel 1-8 and MIDI
channel 9-16 affect all channels
This way you can play each instrument channel on its own MIDI channel.
When "Channel“ is activated, the instrument must be set to omni to receive
all incoming MIDI channels.

Activate "Round Robin“

and assign the note for the Repetition key.

Blend Mode sets the MIDI CC for blending channels in or out,

depending on the settings on the main page.

Assign the MIDI CCs for Vibrato Intensitiy and Vibrato Speed

Assign the MIDI CCs for the Sequencer velocity.

Set the position of the Sequencer variation keys

Assign the MIDI CCs for X & Y axes of the OCTA-Pad